Ghormeh Sabzi - Persian Herb Stew

خورش قورمه سبزی Khoresh-e Ghormeh Sabzi is one of the most delicious and popular dishes among Iranians. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like ghormeh sabzi. The combination of flavorful and aromatic herbs, slow cooked lamb cubes, fork-tender beans and dried lemons make the khoresh very tasty and nutritious. My mother would call this dish a Sabzi Stew (vegetable stew) because she would add a whole lot of vegetables to the pot including spinach and dill. This is my simplified and the more common version.

Heat 1/3 cup of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat and saute the chopped fresh herbs for about 15 minutes, stir frequently. Set aside.

In a large stew pot, saute chopped onions in 2 tablespoons of oil until they become golden brown.

Add the meat, turmeric, salt, pepper and fry until all sides are brown.

Add the soaked dried beans, fried vegetables and dried lemons.

Pour in enough water to cover the mixture by about 2 inches, bring to a boil on high heat for just a couple of minutes, lower the heat, cover and cook on medium to low heat for 1 1/2 hours.

Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary and add a little more water if needed. Reduce the heat to its lowest setting and simmer for another 30 minutes. The longer ghormeh sabzi simmers the better it tastes. ( khoob ja miofteh). It would also taste better reheated the next day. Taste and adjust the seasoning before serving.

It means small cut red meat fried in fat and delicious! Of course the method of production is a little more complicated: In the old time they would cut boneless meat into small pieces, in a pot, with a little water would cook it half way through, add salt, and cook until water disappears. Then add extracted lamb tail fat - Donbeh Fat - and fry with diced onions until completely browned. The mixture will produce foam and cooking is continued until no more foaming and browned. After cooking the mixture is let to cool down and is poured in a glazed clay jar covered on the top - sealed - with a piece of paper soaked in hot milk! Translated from Farhang Moein - فرهنگ فارسی معین

I guess there could be regional variations to this dish. I believe the original version includes only Parsley, Fenugreek, and Tareh (Persian leeks). My Family are originally from Tabriz so they use Black eyed peas instead of pinto or kidney beans. My great aunt still makes ghormeh and I had it the last time I was in iran.

Ghormeh Sabzi was introduced by my Persian friends (I am Korean:) and this became one of my favorite dishes. They would bring me homemade sabzis from Iran and I would even cook it for myself. Recently, I was very excited to find dried sabzis in an International market, however, I miss the real homemade one. I also miss Persian rice (a mix of yellow and white) and tadig that eat with Ghormeh Sabzi.

Azita, Wow, for a first time making this dish everyone was blown away. I doubled it up since I had a whole lamb leg in the freezer and cubed it for this. My total cooking time turned out to be about two hours and it came out wonderfully and better like you said. Served it with tahdig and everyone was very happy. I'm still on the hunt for dried lemons in my town. Would you have any retailer anywhere that ships Persian goods in the US you can recommend? What a treat as this was the top Persian recipe I had to try as I always enjoyed it at my many friends' houses growing up in Beverly Hills. Azita you are a GEM!

Azita, I love your blog! My father is Iranian and my mother is American, and I really have only ever had Persian food in Iran or at Iranian restaurants, or as results of my mother and me experimenting in our kitchens, because we have almost no Iranian friends or family here at all. :( I love Iranian food, but recently I started following a mostly plant-based diet, so I am going to try to adapt some of these recipes for my current dietary restrictions, starting with the gheymeh!

Azita thank you so much for posting this recipes! My mom always adds a little dried herb to the sabzi as she says the herbs here don't taste like back home. Can you tell me how to incorporate them into the dish?

Greetings!I am loving your recipes this summer (especially for some of the traditional dishes eaten during Ramadan)...for a long time I would turn to Najimieh Batamanglij, but I have been coming here more and more. I am American, husband is Persian, have been cooking mostly Persian food for my family since we got married 19 yrs ago...I always consult my cookbooks (authentic sources)since I am not native and don't have all those childhood tastes embedded in my cooking soul : ) Of the Persian food blogs yours is hands down my favorite...authentic, lots of love, personal touches with a little mystery left...thanks for sharing and please keep on doing so!Valerie in Seattle

Should we at any point take the Limoo Amani out of the stew or do we leave them in even for serving? When I tried your Gheymey recipe I left them in, but the other ingredients were masked by the sourness of the lemons. Maybe I should try another brand?

Ghormeh sabzi is usually served with the limoo amani in it. However, you can take them out before serving or you can use just a couple of them in the stew. You don't need to try a different brand. They all taste the same.

Hi Azita! Second time I have made this recipe and it turned out amazing! Probably one of the best ghormeh sabzis I have ever had. I am an Iranian, married to a Canadian. Before I got married, I was never really interested in cooking. My mother would do all the Persian cooking at home. But now I enjoy cooking and I am expecting my first child. I want her to grow up with Persian food because it is part of maintaining and passing on the beautiful Persian culture. I don't have any Iranian friends or family here where I live. I am very glad your blog exists! Please keep it up! Maryam

I was taught to use black eyed peas rather than the red beans. Also, when I fry my veggies, I do it on low heat and actually fry them until they are somewhat crispy. This takes a good amount of time. I find using lamb adds much more flavor than beef.

Hi Azita,My khoresh is cooking at the moment, it smells devine. I do have to admit I am using dried mixed herbs that are sold especially for ghormeh sabzi. I cannot get the big amounts of fresh herbs this time of the year, especially fenugreek. We'll see how it turns out.i wanted to ask you about freezing ghormeh sabzi and other khoresh. Is this something you would do or rather discourage from doing?

Update: it turned out marvelous. The whole apartment smelled delicious. I have now managed to freeze a couple of portions, but no more ... can't stay away from it. :) Thanks once more for sharing you recipes.Sharon

I just want to tell you that I am very grateful for your excellent step-by-step recipes. I got married to a wonderful Iranian man last August and I've been able to make a lot of great food because of you. My husband tells his Iranian friends that I cook better than Iranian women; but that is only because I'm following the recipes of a great Iranian woman cook! Thanks so much! Love from Adele

Azita, I have The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallows. Upon seeing this recipe online I tried the boiok. There it was a different variation but the same name. Not much difference. I will have to try both recipes. I worked in the Middle East and enjoyed so much of the food I ate there. I have several cookbooks from the region and try my hand at preparing many of them. I brought several of the dry ingredients back to the USA when I returned home. One question, How long will Limoo Amani keep? Ray, Nevada USA

I really enjoy this dish and have had a vegetarian version in a Persian Restaurant. One of the best most flavorful dishes I have ever tasted :) I would like to prepare this without the meat. Do you recommend increasing the beans if not adding meat? Thanks!

wow so excited that I stumbled upon your blog. I'm not iranian but had aush reshteh at someone's house onetime and it was delicious. You have such passion for food, love reading your blog. I am going to try your aush reshteh recipe.

Thanks Azita for such a easy, simple and logical recipe. I was looking for Ghormeh Sabzi recipe to send to a friend who asked me about my lunch at work. I was unable to find a fair and easy recipe with accessible ingredients that suits my friend's request. Almost everyone (those i saw) exaggerated the way of cooking or ingredients (like adding potato/Persian spices/etc) and made it different from what we know as Ghormeh Sabzi in Iran and difficult for people living outside of Iran for preparation.

With your permission I advised my friend to use canned kidney beans instead of cooking it as (you know) people don't like to cook foods that takes long time here.

Thank you again and god help you to continue the good job you are doing.

I just made this and it turned out great. I learned about this dish through an Iranian friend I had while living abroad, and now that I'm back (in Canada), I've been trying to track down the ingredients for this. After 3 stores, I managed to get everything I needed.

Your recipe is very easy to follow and tastes so much like what my friend made me. Thank you so much! I'm browsing through your other recipes now, excited to try something else

My Iranian colleagues brought this into work for lunch and the smell was amazing; too bad they had just finished eating so I couldn't get a taste. They told me the name of the dish and here I am. I'm getting the ingredients from the supermarket today. Looks like a prefect slow cooker recipe. Wish me luck.

It went quite well for my fist attempt! I think I put a little too much water in and maybe overcooked (did slow cooker low 8 hrs so probably too much) so the herb flavour was less strong than compared to what my colleagues prepare. However, I added a little curry powder and this pepped it up. Delicious all the same and I'll tweak it next time accordingly. Need to find some dried lemons maybe for the real deal here.